METHOD OF BAITING THE MINNOW. 175 



the spinning is horrible to behold, and much more 

 likely to alarm than attract a trout ; the smallest 

 curvature will do, and the hook should protrude 

 freely. The upper hook is then stuck through the 

 lips, which completes the process, and the angler 

 should, before commencing, draw it through the 

 water, to see that it spins properly. 



Some anglers use a much larger hook for the 

 lips than we have indicated ; acting upon the pre- 

 valent opinion that trout invariably seize and swal- 

 low their prey head-foremost, and that there should 

 therefore be a large hook there. So far as our ex- 

 perience goes, this opinion is incorrect. We have 

 frequently caught trout with numbers of minnows 

 and other small fish in their inside, nine out of ten 

 of which were swallowed tail-foremost ; and this is 

 only natural, as it is hardly to be supposed that a 

 minnow will look a trout in the face till the latter 

 swallows him ; and it is equally improbable that the 

 trout will let the minnow out of his mouth when 

 once in, merely for the gratification of bolting him 

 head-foremost. From observations taken when the 

 water was clear, we think that five trout of six seize 

 the minnow from behind. We have watched them 

 come out from below the opposite bank, and follow 

 the minnow across, always keeping below it, ap- 

 parently afraid that they might be seen by their 

 prey, and frequently making no attempt to seize it, 

 till it was just at the edge. Some anglers say that 

 the upper hook is the most deadly, but we have 



